SHOLA Henry, a forex broker, was sentenced to two years in prison by an Ikeja Special Offences Court on Tuesday for stealing N20 million. In her judgement, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo stated that cryptocurrency is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme.
“The prosecution, however, proved the charge of stealing against the defendant and he is found guilty as charged of count six.
“The defendant is hereby sentenced to two years’ imprisonment or pay a fine of N2 million. His company is also fined N1 million.
“The defendant is hereby given one year to make restitution of N20 million to his victim,” the judge said.
Taiwo went on to say that the prosecution had failed to substantiate the accusation of collecting money under false pretenses. On counts one through five, she discharged and acquitted the defendant.
The defendant and his company, Henry Enterprises, were charged with eight amended counts of theft and acquiring money under false pretenses by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
At the defendant’s trial, EFCC counsel Mr Ahmed Yerima called five witnesses. According to Yerima, the EFCC got a petition from one Mr Anyasi Matthew, who claimed that the defendant deceived him of N20 million by claiming that he would invest the money in forex and make a 20% profit in 30 days.
According to the prosecution, after collecting the money, the defendant stopped paying returns to the complainant and failed to restore his capital to him as promised.
However, the inability of the defendant to repay the money to the owner caused the owner to file a complaint with the EFCC about the alleged fraud.
